Friday, August 10, ’12H-84 Winchester T-STORMS L H 79 L 55 H H 66 L 50 M H 72 L 53L-63 C H 98 L 77Bear update: The Bear says There Was A Black Cat In The Allegheny Mountain Tunnel Party. TR says, “Fatty raised him on Walipurgis Night.” Moose say, “You ought to read Faust, Bear!” Lou says we will have a Walipurgis Party. We will serve Witchly Foods. We woke up to clouds. Will they last? No! It was raining in Bedford when we got up. It rained during breakfast. We had to step around puddles when we were loading the cars. We drove through fog on Town Hill south of Breezewood. It remained cloudy at lunch and finally got sunny about the time we entered Virginia. Then it got humid and warmer, too. The temperature in Winchester climbed to 84. Tucson 106/78 Brooklyn 81/75 T-STORMS We woke up at 7:30AM. We got dressed and went to the small Bedford McDonalds for breakfast in the rain. We loaded the car and checked out of room 115 at 10:06AM. We took a ticket and got back onto the PA Turnpike for the very last time on this trip. We drove about 19 miles to the Sheetz in Breezewood to make our first pit stop. The sun showed its face once We got back on the road and headed south out of Pennsylvania. We drove through fog on Town Hill south of Breezewood. It remained cloudy as we drove through Berkeley Springs. We stopped for lunch at the Berkeley Springs McDonalds. I think it was the first time we ever drove through town without stopping at the Country Inn. We left West Virginia and stopped at the Virginia Farmer’s Market. We stopped there years ago. I remember taking a photo of Kenny there where you measure how tall he is. We bought ice cream and peaches. We checked into room 123 at the Best Western Lee Jackson Motor Inn in Winchester. Gary got his oil changed at Jiffy Lube. We went to Bob Evans for dinner and called my parents. We told them that we received the UPS overnight package with the swim suits and the Petco bag. They want us to call on Sunday. Tomorrow they’re going to Tommy’s wedding. We made reservations at the HOJO’s tomorrow and started fiddling with the cat’s hard-sided carrying case.

We Stopped At McDonalds Instead Of The Country Inn At Berkeley Springs 8/10/12

For years we drove from Charlottesville to Pittsburgh stopping at the Country Inn at Berkeley Springs for lunch. The stately inn complete with neo-classic architecture used to be the bright spot of the trip. We even stayed there overnight once at Christmas. But the old Inn at the springs which George Washington used to frequent now has slow service, an expensive menu, a teeny tiny dining room, waitresses that won’t even take your card to pay the bill in any decent amount of time. The gift shop is closed. We tried it in June when we drove to Pittsburgh from Tucson as part of a much longer trip — the first time since the 1990’s. But now we prefer a Big Mac and a strawberry lemonade. I paid a bunch of bills today with the money Gary got in from Farmer and Shapiro. But now the shoes I wore in Europe are wearing out. Money wise nothing makes sense. Still no contract . . . What next?